The NFL released the schedule for Week 18, flexing a win-and-in game for Green Bay against Detroit into primetime as the last game of the season.
The news is less than ideal for the Seattle Seahawks.
Detroit, Green Bay and Seattle are all 8-8 and fighting for the seventh seed in the NFC with one week of regular season action left.
Because the Seahawks beat the Lions 48-45 in Week 4, they hold the tiebreaker over Detroit. Seattle plays the Los Angeles Rams (5-11) at 4:25 p.m. EST and a Seahawks win eliminates Detroit from playoff contention.
The Rams are a week away from ending the worst follow-up season to a Super Bowl in NFL history. Per Oddschecker, Seattle is a 6.5-point favorite.
If the Lions are eliminated before kickoff, it would give the team less motivation to win. Sure, knocking Aaron Rodgers and a hated division rival out of the playoff race would be something worth relishing, but that pales in comparison to Detroit advancing itself.
A safer bet for the Sunday night finale would have been the de facto AFC South championship game between Tennessee (7-9) and Jacksonville (8-8). While not as flashy, that is a true win-and-your-in game; the rest of the weekend’s results are irrelevant to whether the Titans or Jaguars reach the postseason. Instead, that game was moved to Saturday night.
Green Bay hasn’t missed the postseason since the 2018 season while Detroit hasn’t qualified for the playoffs since 2016. Both are in the running for the playoffs with a week left, but only one may be alive hours before kickoff.
